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Metals are mainly distinguished by the way they reflect light - try experimenting with the reflection colour and strength (assuming there's stuff in the scene to reflect), and also refraction. In DAZ Studio try changing the lighting model to modify the way the specular colours apply.

I just tried an ultimate shader pack metal but it converts the entire surface to metal as though it was plated rather than applying a sort of burnishing effect to whatever is already there.

An example of what I am trying to do is to take the Sabbatic Goat's horns which are quite grooved through bump and displacement maps and get them to reflect light as though they had had gold polishing/gilding so the underlying colours and textures would still be there but the grooves (or their peaks, rather) would catch and reflect light.

I am getting something vaguely approximating the effect using pweffect on a geometric shell over the horns but it is hardly very subtle and will probably need a bit of work to make it how I am wanting:

Metals are mainly distinguished by the way they reflect light - try experimenting with the reflection colour and strength (assuming there's stuff in the scene to reflect), and also refraction. In DAZ Studio try changing the lighting model to modify the way the specular colours apply.

To add to what Richard said and if you want to make your own...

If I am thinking of the right thing gilding is only on certain parts of an item and not all over.

You would need specific specular maps to do this. It could probably be set up using a mix block in Shadermixer. You would need to have an alpha for where you wanted the shading and also a specific specular map as well. The alpha would tell the program where to put the colour of the gilding and the spec would show where you want the shine. That's why you would need both...

Once set up you would be able to change maps to suit the item being used.

I first made a quick and dirty displacement map for them...just some dark grey squiggles and blotches on a medium grey background. I actually did that as a layer in Gimp, so the next step would be easier. Then I played with the levels to get the dark grey to almost black and then filled the medium grey with an almost white. The flattened image (black/white) became a strength map for the reflection channel. I plugged a gold reflection map into the reflection color...

The original greyscale map became the displacement map. I set negative displacement only, and a high strength.

As you can see the 'high' areas are golden and the low areas are not...

I first made a quick and dirty displacement map for them...just some dark grey squiggles and blotches on a medium grey background. I actually did that as a layer in Gimp, so the next step would be easier. Then I played with the levels to get the dark grey to almost black and then filled the medium grey with an almost white. The flattened image (black/white) became a strength map for the reflection channel. I plugged a gold reflection map into the reflection color...

The original greyscale map became the displacement map. I set negative displacement only, and a high strength.

As you can see the 'high' areas are golden and the low areas are not...

Very nice mjc! Sometimes it's easier to just use the surface tab...I think we sometimes forget that...

I first made a quick and dirty displacement map for them...just some dark grey squiggles and blotches on a medium grey background. I actually did that as a layer in Gimp, so the next step would be easier. Then I played with the levels to get the dark grey to almost black and then filled the medium grey with an almost white. The flattened image (black/white) became a strength map for the reflection channel. I plugged a gold reflection map into the reflection color...

The original greyscale map became the displacement map. I set negative displacement only, and a high strength.

As you can see the 'high' areas are golden and the low areas are not...

Very nice mjc! Sometimes it's easier to just use the surface tab...I think we sometimes forget that...

But...but...that was just a first step on trying to make a generic shader...mix bridks...step or smooth step...yeah..

I first made a quick and dirty displacement map for them...just some dark grey squiggles and blotches on a medium grey background. I actually did that as a layer in Gimp, so the next step would be easier. Then I played with the levels to get the dark grey to almost black and then filled the medium grey with an almost white. The flattened image (black/white) became a strength map for the reflection channel. I plugged a gold reflection map into the reflection color...

The original greyscale map became the displacement map. I set negative displacement only, and a high strength.

As you can see the 'high' areas are golden and the low areas are not...

Very nice mjc! Sometimes it's easier to just use the surface tab...I think we sometimes forget that...

But...but...that was just a first step on trying to make a generic shader...mix bridks...step or smooth step...yeah..

lol.. I must admit that was where my head was initially heading not sure if it could be done without maps though...

lol.. I must admit that was where my head was initially heading not sure if it could be done without maps though...

There should be a way to read an existing map and slot it into the appropriate brick. It would probably have to be a scripted operation...but my idea would be click on the icon (from the content library) and it checks for the appropriate map (spec or displacement) and if it finds one, slots it into a conversion to black and white (found that works best with everything above a medium-light grey going to white and everything below going to black) and then applies a gold, bronze, brass, silver or chrome reflection map...all while leaving everything else except the reflection channel unchanged...but I haven't got a clue where to begin with it.

lol.. I must admit that was where my head was initially heading not sure if it could be done without maps though...

There should be a way to read an existing map and slot it into the appropriate brick. It would probably have to be a scripted operation...but my idea would be click on the icon (from the content library) and it checks for the appropriate map (spec or displacement) and if it finds one, slots it into a conversion to black and white (found that works best with everything above a medium-light grey going to white and everything below going to black) and then applies a gold, bronze, brass, silver or chrome reflection map...all while leaving everything else except the reflection channel unchanged...but I haven't got a clue where to begin with it.lol neither do I ... that's way above what I'm capable of!

I had been thinking along the lines of using the displacement to decide what went where but I don't know if that would work or how to go about it. Something along the lines of if displacement greater than .05 apply gold reflections.

I didn't realize this until recently, but adjusting the specularity and bump maps is a great way to "gild" something. Choose the surface (advanced, not basic), change the specular color to a gold color, leave the strength @ 100%, but then select a texture map for the strength tab (not the color, but STRENGTH). The texture map will work like bump maps do (and depending on what you want, you might actually use a bump map for this). The white parts of the map will show up completely, fading off in shades of gray, w/ black not showing up at all. If you want it to be shiny, change the lighting model to glossy plastic or metal.

In the picture below, look at the girl's headband. The bump map (or displacement, I forget which one I used here) is set so that the gold leaf design is noticeably raised. I used the same map for the specular strength map, w/ the color set to a pale gold (the base texture is a grayscale texture w/ pink diffuse color) in order to make it look a bit more like embroidery. Ignore the transparency glitch. :)